Month of the Military Child: Supporting Children in National Guard and Reserve Families

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Since the inception of the Biden Foundation, we have collaborated with organizations to serve military service members, veterans, and their families. As we have worked to support military kids, it only made sense to partner with our friends at the Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC).

In honor of Month of the Military Child, last week we hosted an expert roundtable about children in National Guard and Reserve families. Along with MCEC, we previewed new resources designed to help identify and support their social, emotional, and educational needs.

For schools and communities located far from military bases, it can be easy to forget that there may be military children in their midst. But in truth, there are nearly three-quarters of a million children of National Guard and Reserve personnel living in communities all around our country. Their parents sometimes deploy as traditional active duty service members do, and some may also be tasked with responding to disasters or urgent situations around the country.

With active duty military families increasingly living off-base, and families of Guard and Reserve members frequently living far from base support services or on-base schools, efforts to identify these children and educate educators in civilian communities about this population are becoming more important. As Mary Keller, president and CEO of MCEC likes to say, “There are military children in almost every ZIP Code!”

We want to ensure that military children are not forgotten. And with MCEC, we are excited to begin rolling out this series of new resources for parents, educators, and community members. On April 25, MCEC will release the first of four podcasts focused on children of Guard and Reserve personnel. The next three podcasts will be released on April 30, May 2, and May 9.

Later this summer, MCEC will also roll out a new classroom curriculum for educators, school administrators, and other youth-serving professionals so that they can be better equipped to identify and support the National Guard and Reserve children in their schools and communities. Stay tuned to MCEC social media for the launch of this curriculum to learn more!